Ok 1st off I want to get this out of the way I have not played WoW since Wrath but do want to state somthing to some of these haters right fast and I know my grammer is goin suck. But for 1 go here
WoW was at 9.1mil subs last year now at 9.6mil so that is 500k sub gain since then so basicly what happend was MoP came out old players came back some didn't like and some did and stayed and we lost some not saying that was all the 500k but prob most. and here is some math for you to understand that this is not a HUGE lost.
with 10 mil subs WoW made $150000000 monthly and $1800000000 yearly
With 9.6mil subs WoW makes $144000000 monthly and $1728000000 Yearly
So with the lost of 400k subs they lose $6000000 Monthly and $72000000 Yearly
but last year they only had 9.1mil subs so thats a gain since then of 500k subs so the gain in money since then would be
$7500000 Monthly and $90000000 Yearly So you say they are doin bad and lost a huge amount of money? I say no they prob know that #of subs will go up when a new xpac releases and then go back down when the buzz is gone I would bet everything I own that they accounted on a lose in subs and prob even accounted on a bigger lost then what happened so I will say to you the game is not diying or even close prob got another xpac mabey 2 left in it unless a BIG game drops or unless blizz cuts the cord with titan(prob how wow will die). Pls stop making these post cause all ppl see is a lost not the fact that in the big picture they have gained money income over the last year. plus the money made from Blizz store items, transfers, name change, and race change. So this game is not even close to diying it is bumping live and well just cause it's not in the golden era of WoW any more is shit if you like it or not the game is alive and well. I havn't played in a few years and been playing other MMOs today none of which made me fell the same as WoW used to but WoW can't make me fell that way any more either. Do I love the game no is it a good game yes so play it or not you gotta give it to blizz for makeing the top running MMO out for 7-8years and prob end up 10-11years before they shut it down. I will end saying this WoW will end when blizz says for it to end not a min before. Thank you have a nice day

Sigh. No, look in the mirror. Depending on when you (and others) started playing, you're up to eight years older. Hopefully, things have changed in your life. The international economy and general stability of our world has changed. You've likely graduated from college, possibly from high school too. If you haven't gotten married and/or had kids yet, numerous others have. MMOs in general have become just another form of entertainment, instead of something cool and new. The player base has probably changed more than any other element; that is in no small part due to those who have been playing for years and wonder why -- after 20+ hours per week -- the game doesn't hold their absolute interest as it once did. When you get married, you will also find that there comes a time when you can see your partner naked and not immediately tackle them for hours of sweaty make out. Welcome to getting older.

TV shows and even many marriages are doing well if they survive half as long as WoW has. The ZOMG subs went down schtick has gotten to be like watching ducks fed at a pond: "Look, here comes the bread/another report ... everyone run around, flap your wings and quack!"

An 8 year old game with a monthly fee and it STILL has close to 10 million subs. I really don't care what people say negativity wise. To me, that is absolutely incredible. Mists of Pandaria is also (to me anyways) one of the best expansions Blizzard has ever released. It doesn't beat BC, but it is still up there. Lastly, nothing lasts forever and I still enjoy the game, so I will continue until it stops being so.

Sigh. No, look in the mirror. Depending on when you (and others) started playing, you're up to eight years older. Hopefully, things have changed in your life. The international economy and general stability of our world has changed. You've likely graduated from college, possibly from high school too. If you haven't gotten married and/or had kids yet, numerous others have. MMOs in general have become just another form of entertainment, instead of something cool and new. The player base has probably changed more than any other element; that is in no small part due to those who have been playing for years and wonder why -- after 20+ hours per week -- the game doesn't hold their absolute interest as it once did. When you get married, you will also find that there comes a time when you can see your partner naked and not immediately tackle them for hours of sweaty make out. Welcome to getting older.

I'm talking about the game, a good game should evolve and keep players around no matter the circumstances. If wow was still good I would be playing, as I'm sure many people would be. Yes there are people who don't have the time to play but those are far fewer than those who just want a game because you can just adjust your play time, not needing to completely give it up. My brother's psychologist at UCI plays wow and he's 30+. Games are a good way to take your mind off stresses.

An 8 year old game with a monthly fee and it STILL has close to 10 million subs. I really don't care what people say negativity wise. To me, that is absolutely incredible. Mists of Pandaria is also (to me anyways) one of the best expansions Blizzard has ever released. It doesn't beat BC, but it is still up there. Lastly, nothing lasts forever and I still enjoy the game, so I will continue until it stops being so.

These are my thoughts exactly. Well said.

"Legacy servers are looking less like something that could be interesting to try and more like a highly successful quarantine."

It's the bill for a terrible season 12 combined with dailygrinding for pve (imo) while making low level pvp the worst experience ever with non-scaled basline resilience at 40% and god mode priests. I expect those to pick up in 5.2 with pvp weapon for honor and nerfs though.

It's not really rocket science.
1) WOW continued to be a hugely popular game and MMO leader by a long way
2) the fact that MOP was 3rd biggest selling game proves that many remain attracted to WOW
3) the fact that there has been (proportionally) a large % decline proves there were aspects of the game that people were not happy with and their response was to unsubscribe. Speculate away... I'm Going with dailies and alt-repeat ability
4) we're at the end of the patch where folks have ran out of things to do, and on the brink of the next big patch, can we anticipate a % return
5) Blizzard will listen and address those areas they got wrong. The game will move forward with continued popularity with Blizzard adapting the game to suit the audience. Occasionally getting things wrong but on the whole getting the package right.

The end.

WHEN I POST IN CAPS CURSE SPEAK FOR ALL PALADINS AND REFRAIN FROM PUNCTUATION EXCEPT AT THE END OF MY SENTENCE WHERE I USE EXTRA YOU CAN'T ARGUE WITH MY LOGIC!!!!!!!

I don't get why every single time there is a dip in the subs there has to be this massive "it's all over" discussion. There is is concept in business called the product life cycle, it is damn near universal, and it says that after a time a product will decline and possibly disappear completely. It's not rocket science. WoW has already broken the mould with it's longevity relative to it's competitors an is already exceptional, it is still enjoying a large and stable player base for an 8 year old MMO. One day it is going to decline and disappear, this is not an intelligent or insightful prediction, anyone who is not completely clueless knew this would happen the moment they switched on the servers, however, parroting this while the game is still overtly healthy *is* just stupid. One day you will be right, but you won't get any validation from me or anyone with and common sense what so ever because it is like predicting someone who was born will eventually die, cue fight club esque pseudo intellectualism of "on a long enough time lime the survival rate of everyone is reduced to zero". Oooooh, deep.

You know, I have tried a bunch of MMOs and none of them did it for me, but I don't go around trolling people that enjoy them about their "bad" decisions because I prefer WoW. It is pathetic, if you are here trying to convince people that like the game that they shouldn't, you should really check yourself. I am interested in sub numbers, but it is not going to stop me playing a game while I enjoy it whatever the outcome.

WoW is old, end of story. Still it's an enjoyable gam and its decline can be slowed but not stopped.

People simply grow, change, get tired of the game and move somewhere else. Not counting the fact that gaming habits have changed a lot - you don't find anymore people going to play sustained and tight schedules, casual gaming is the new frontier (with all the pro and cons of the case).

Still playing since FOR ME there are no other good options. Probably i will leave when Titan is announced.

Most of these losses are likely from the people that were locked in with the Annual pass, who haven't played for a while. In fact, many people in a previous thread suggested there would be large losses, based on the amount of accounts data mined from GuildOx who had Tyrael's Charger, but had not leveled to 90 yet.

I don't get why every single time there is a dip in the subs there has to be this massive "it's all over" discussion. There is is concept in business called the product life cycle, it is damn near universal, and it says that after a time a product will decline and possibly disappear completely. It's not rocket science. WoW has already broken the mould with it's longevity relative to it's competitors an is already exceptional, it is still enjoying a large and stable player base for an 8 year old MMO. One day it is going to decline and disappear, this is not an intelligent or insightful prediction, anyone who is not completely clueless knew this would happen the moment they switched on the servers, however, parroting this while the game is still overtly healthy *is* just stupid. One day you will be right, but you won't get any validation from me or anyone with and common sense what so ever because it is like predicting someone who was born will eventually die, cue fight club esque pseudo intellectualism of "on a long enough time lime the survival rate of everyone is reduced to zero". Oooooh, deep.

You know, I have tried a bunch of MMOs and none of them did it for me, but I don't go around trolling people that enjoy them about their "bad" decisions because I prefer WoW. It is pathetic, if you are here trying to convince people that like the game that they shouldn't, you should really check yourself. I am interested in sub numbers, but it is not going to stop me playing a game while I enjoy it whatever the outcome.

Exactly my thought. I really don't get how someone can say WoW is dying when it still has 9.6 millions active subscribers. People are indeed pathetic as you've already said. And I'm in any way a fanboy, I play also Guild Wars 2 occasionally, but people who act like that make me laugh. This WoW hate is pointless and stupid.

Did no one listen to the thing? Morhaime said that most losses were in the east, meaning the losses hardly even matter.

In fact he said China which means that wow lost maybe 100k subs in the west, so big deal? To me this just proves that MoP is doing very well, because out of all the people that came back 1m of them like it over cata.